SILVER SPRING, MD – While no cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) have occurred in the United States or among U.S. servicemembers, DoD is taking no chances on missing any cases – and can take credit for identifying the earliest known patients.

MERS, a viral respiratory illness first reported in Saudi Arabia in 2012, is caused by a coronavirus called MERS-CoV. Characterized by severe acute respiratory illness in most cases, about half of the victims have died, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta.

In the strictest guidelines established thus far, the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center (AFHSC) recommends that any patient who meets the following criteria should be evaluated for MERS-CoV infection:

Acute respiratory infection, which may include fever above 38oC or 100.4 F and cough, and

History of travel to the Arabian Peninsula or neighboring countries within 14 days before onset of illness, and

Symptoms not already explained by any other infection or etiology.

CDC takes a less stringent screening approach and recommends testing for MERS-CoV only in patients who meet the three DoD requirements and have evidence of pneumonia or Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS). WHO revised its case definition in early July to include cases without evidence of pulmonary parenchymal disease, but only if a direct epidemiologic link with a confirmed case of MERS-CoV exists.1

A man outside of a Saudi hospital wears a mask to protect against the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV). Although no cases have yet occurred in the United States or among American servicemembers, the DoD has already established stringent detection guidelines.

“We have established more aggressive guidelines, though the CDC and WHO are moving closer to our recommendations. Our population is usually younger and healthier, and we’re looking for sentinels that may tell us what’s happening in civilian populations as well,” said Rohit Chitale, MPH, PhD, director, division of integrated biosurveillance, AFHSC.

Globally, 82 laboratory-confirmed cases of MERS-CoV in eight countries have been reported to the World Health Organization since September 2012. Of those, 45 patients have died.

“We look at sources across the world – WHO, Institut Pasteur, the European CDC, CDC, provincial data and others — to monitor outside U.S. forces and inside forces. The DoD lives in a civilian world and we support our civilian partners,” Chitale told U.S. Medicine.

Identifying First Cases

Public Health Service Capt. Michael J. Cooper, PhD

That support and cooperation with civilian agencies resulted in the identification of the first known cases of MERS-CoV, according to Public Health Service Capt. Michael J. Cooper, PhD, head of respiratory disease for AFHSC’s Global Emerging Infections Surveillance and Response Systems.

The Naval Medical Research Unit-3 (NAMRU-3) in Cairo, working with Jordan’s National Influenza Center, came across 12 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)-like cases in April 2012.

“They took samples but didn’t know what they were seeing,” Cooper explained. “Then cases in England and Saudi Arabia appeared in November 2012. When the lab went back and sequenced the earlier samples, they found two cases of MERS.”

Cooper noted that, in the early stages of disease identification, success depends on many organizations working together.

“Obviously, there was no ready-made test for this emerging pathogen. Jordan’s influenza center flagged the cases, NAMRU-3 had samples of the virus and CDC created the test,” he said.

With a better sense of the disease’s progression and testing available, GEIS is in constant contact with seven overseas Army and Navy labs, geographic combatant commands and surgeon offices in all commands to disseminate case definitions and how to enhance survival in affected patients.

“We’ve had a respiratory disease surveillance infrastructure in place for 15 years,” said Cooper. “We’ve just tweaked it to provide the additional information and resources clinicians need.”

To limit spread of disease, AFHSC recommends that cases of MERS-CoV infection be reported within four hours of confirmation to a service-specific public health chain of command and that AFHSC get the report as an “outbreak or disease cluster.”